A Disney govt producer admitted she has been pushing a “not-at-all-secret homosexual agenda” for youngsters’s animation, whilst Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the so-called “Don’t Say Homosexual” legislation this week.
Throughout a Disney employees assembly in regards to the legislation — which bars Florida academics from discussing matters like sexual orientation or gender identification with college students except they’re within the fourth grade or greater — govt producer for Disney Tv Animation Latoya Raveneau touted Disney’s efforts to function LGBTQ storylines.
“In my little pocket of Proud Household Disney TVA, the showrunners have been tremendous welcoming . . . to my not-at-all-secret homosexual agenda,” Raveneau mentioned in a leaked video obtained by journalist Christopher Rufo. “Perhaps it was that manner prior to now, however I assume one thing should have occurred . . . after which like all that momentum that I felt, that sense of ‘I don’t must be afraid to have these two characters kiss within the background.’”
“I used to be simply, wherever I may, including queerness,” Raveneau added. “Nobody would cease me, and nobody was attempting to cease me.”
The leak of Raveneau’s feedback got here as Karey Burke, president of Disney’s Common Leisure Content material, vowed to drastically enhance inclusivity in its productions, promising that a minimum of 50 % of its characters can be LGBTQ or racial minorities by the top of the yr.
Burke made the pledge in a company-wide Zoom name Monday that was later posted to Twitter.
The Disney execs made their feedback after Florida Gov. DeSantis on Monday signed the Parental Rights in Schooling invoice, dubbed the “Don’t Say Homosexual” invoice by critics.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek slammed the laws after weeks of staying silent, and tried to foyer DeSantis to kill it. A gaggle of California Disney workers staged a walkout final week to protest the measure, carrying rainbow colours, holding indicators with pro-LGBTQ slogans, and shouting, “Say Homosexual,” as they marched down the road.
DeSantis ripped Disney for its stance, saying it “crossed the road” as a giant company throwing its weight round in state politics. DeSantis likewise blasted Disney’s hypocrisy in pushing home social-justice causes whereas pursuing enterprise in China — a regime infamous for human-rights abuses regarding the Uyghur Muslims, Hong Kong and Tibet, amongst others.
DeSantis informed supporters in Boca Raton earlier this month that Florida’s insurance policies should be based mostly on the “greatest curiosity of Florida residents, not on the musings of woke firms.”
Raveneau mentioned that when she joined the Mouse Home, she assumed the corporate would attempt to maintain LGBTQ components out of content material for youthful audiences.
“I really like Disney’s content material. I grew up watching all the classics. They've been an enormous informative a part of my life, however on the identical time, I labored at small studios most of my profession, and I’d heard whispers. I’d heard issues like, ‘They received’t allow you to present this in a Disney present.’ So I used to be a bit of sus[picious] after I began, however then my expertise was bafflingly the other of what I had heard,” she mentioned.
Raveneau is govt producer on the upcoming Disney Junior musical sequence, “Rise Up, Sing Out,” that includes the music of The Roots, which “tackles the topic of coming collectively to battle racism and have fun black tradition!,” in line with her LinkedIn profile.
She can also be director on the upcoming animated sequence, “The Proud Household: Louder and Prouder,” a coming of age animated sequence, that includes LGBTQ and racially numerous characters.
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